Stretchable garment



June 17, 1958 J, T|T| E I 2,838,761

STRETCHABLE GARMENT Filed Nov. 4. 1955 United States Patent STRETCHABLE GARMENT Jack Title, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Application November 4, 1955, Serial No. 545,056

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-224) This invention relates to garments, such as panties, bathing suits, bloomers, shorts, panty girdles, step-ins and the like.

It is generally recognized that in order to maintain a close comfortable fit in a garment of the type to which this invention relates, provision must be made for the stretching of the material in the garment to accommodate changes of position of the body of the wearer. For instance, when a person sits down the distance from the base of the garment to the beltline at the rear must increase unless the belt or the base is to move relative to the skin. At the same time the girth at the beltline and below it increases as a person resumes a sitting position and where provision is not made for increase of the girth of the garment by stretching of the front material, binding and chafing is the inevitable result.

The present invention provides a structure for a garment of the above type, which provides for accommodation of the altered dimensions of the wearer in assuming different positions. In accordance with the present invention, the garment is made with front and back sections, meeting at a seam on either side thereof, which extends from a central point in the region of the belt at the rear diagonally to the lower lateral extremity on either side. The front section has the material thereof so disposed as to be stretchable laterally while the rear portion has the material so disposed that it stretches vertically. Preferably the seams above referred to extend downwardly in a straight line from the top centre at the back of the garment at an angle of approximately 45 but it will readily be appreciated that for purposes of accomplishing the objects of the invention, the seam may extend at any appropriate angle and may be straight, arcuate or in the form of a curve which is other than circular.

While it will be appreciated from the foregoing that the invention applies to garments made from the usual knitted fabrics made from non-stretchable yarns, such as cotton, rayon, acetate, nylon or mixtures thereof or wool, it will be understood that the desired result may be achieved equally well, whether the material is made either partly or wholly or yarns which are inherently stretchable in themselves, such as yarns having a rubber content or yarns of the type which are becoming known in the trade as crimped yarns and in this connection it will be appreciated that where I refer to a material being so disposed that it is stretchable in a particular direction, I do not intend to state that the material cannot be stretchable in the direction at right angles thereto but only to indicate that the material must be most easily stretchable in the direction referred to.

It will be obvious that garments made in accordance with the invention may be trimmed in conventional manner with elastic trimming around the legs and belt, rib band elastic lace, embroidery, and may contain lace inserts and panels of trim at the front, side or back; the advan- EDI tages of the invention not being dependent upon the material of the front and back panels being absolutely uniform in texture or being formed entirely of one integral piece of material.

it will be seen that by this arrangement the lateral stretch required at the top of the side of the garment is taken up by the front section of material. By this arrangement, a very close fitting garment is obtained. A further advantage of this arrangement is that the seam, being disposed at an angle of 45 to the wales of the material in the front and back sections of the garment, is, in itself, capable of being stretched. This also contributes to the comfort and close fit of the garment.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation,

Figure 2 is a side elevation, and

Figure 3 is a front elevation.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated discloses a close fitting panty type garment. In Figure l, the garment comprises three main portions, a front panel 10, a rear panel 11, and a gusset 12. A waist encircling member 13, is provided, which is formed of an elastic material. This waist encircling member is attached to the front panel 16 of the garment and to the rear panel 11 at the apex of the V, as shown at 14. Panel 10 and rear panel 11 are stitched together at the seams 15 and are joined together by the gusset member 12. It is preferred that the gusset 12 stretch in the same direction as the section 10.

When the wearer of this garment either bends or sits down, vertical stretch will be required in the back section 11. This is provided for by the vertical stretchability of the section 11. The front of the body expands somewhat laterally when the wearer bends or sits down, and horizontal stretch to accommodate this expansion is required in the area D of the front section 10. This requirement is met by the lateral stretchability of the front member 10.

In previously known garments, horizontal pull established in the area marked E in the drawings could not be balanced by stretchability in the garment in the areas under consideration due to the fact that the seam extended vertically up the side of the garment. By arranging the seams in this invention at an angle of about 45 from the centre of the rear of the garment, a satisfactory answer to the problem has been found.

What I claim is:

A close fitting knitted bifurcated pants garment adapted to extend from the waist to the crotch of the wearer and having leg openings, said garment including a front section and a back section each made from a single piece of continuous material, the front section being primarily stretchable in a horizontal direction and substantially less stretchable vertically, and the back section being stretchable primarily vertically but substantially less stretchable horizontally, the side edges of said sections being disposed at substantially forty-five degrees to the Wales of the material, the front section and the back section being connected by seams along said side edges, the upper ends of said side edges being positioned adjacent one another in the region of the top center back of the garment at the waistline of the garment and extending downward to the base of the garment at the sides thereof, and elastic bands circumscribing the waist and leg openings of the garment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

